We must recognize that the preacher’s task is an exegetical and theological one. Homiletics cannot be divorced from theology and exegesis simply by virtue of the fact that what we proclaim in the pulpit is a biblical theology that originates from the exegesis of God’s Word.
Preachers need to be competent in many arenas of life. They need managerial competence. They need organizational competence. But above everything else, the preacher needs theological and exegetical competence. The curriculum in our seminaries and theological institutions must reflect this commitment to train preaching theologians, and not just men who are entertaining.
When we recognize the challenges posed to us by our current cultural climate, we will also recognize that preaching—doctrinally robust and exegetically rich preaching—is the only mechanism for the church’s survival in a secular age. The faithful pastor is not a theologian at one moment, an exegete the next, and at other times a preacher. He is, instead, all of those things simultaneously and in equal measure.
This means that in our churches and in our theological institutions we are not simply training religious professionals who happen to be able to speak in front of a crowd; we are bringing up theologians who know how to rightly handle God’s Word and herald that Word in a way that is understandable to any given audience.
The testimony of Acts and the history of the Church witness to the fact that preaching is the church’s only strategy for survival and for multiplication in the face of cultural hostility. Acts regularly points to the fact that the church is a “creature of the Word”—it is created by the Word and sustained by the Word. Preaching is not just one church growth strategy among others; it is the lifeblood of the church’s existence. This is further highlighted by Paul’s pastoral commission to his protégé Timothy: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Tim 4:2)
The early church fathers met the overt opposition of the Roman culture with faithful preaching—preaching that was deemed subversive to the Roman Empire. Further, even after the fall of the Roman Empire preaching was central to the ministry of the church. Peter Brown, renowned historian of late antiquity, notes that the Basilica of Hippo was not just the place that housed Augustine’s pulpit; it was also a place for business transaction. Brown points out that these transactions would occur even during Augustine’s preaching and that Augustine would often be interrupted by interlocutors who objected to the content of his sermons, disagreeing with one point or another. And yet even in the noise of commercial activity and critics, Augustine was clear that preaching must not retreat but continue on as central in the church’s mission and ministry.
As we fast-forward to the Reformation, we find that Luther understood preaching as the first mark of the church. For Luther, preaching was the primary means by which sinners were able to come to know the truths of the Gospel first revealed to him in the words of Romans 1:17. Again, we must remember that Luther was no armchair theologian. Luther spoke about the centrality of preaching the Gospel at the risk of his life. One need only consider the mortal peril he was in at the Diet of Worms to understand the seriousness of his commitment to the Gospel and to the proclamation of the Gospel in preaching.
Similarly, Calvin emphasized the union of Word and Spirit in the preaching event, reminding us that the Holy Spirit convicts and converts through the preaching of the Word, doing more than any preacher in his own power is ever able to achieve. This gave Calvin not only a theology of how preaching worked but also fueled his commitment to why one must preach. Without preaching the church simply could not survive, the Spirit would not move, and the flame of the Reformation would be extinguished.
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